


program not responding [end task]

by Eiso



Category: bdg exercise streams
Genre: Mild Hurt/Comfort, Other, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:09:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28972605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eiso/pseuds/Eiso
Summary: soulmates have the power to destroy each other. ghostbot doesn't approve.
Relationships: ghostbot/nightbot
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	program not responding [end task]

**Author's Note:**

> This is all Cinn's fault

It was one of the first things ghostbot learned, when thex were released out into the world -- be chill, appreciate Karen (k), and never,  _ never _ speak the words hidden on a two-factor-authenticated locked page of theyr code. There was a bot out there that would match ghostbot perfectly, that would be made for theb (in a hopefully metaphorical sense), that would have the power to destroy theb with a few simple words -- and thex would be able to destroy the other bot in return, and wouldn’t, and apparently thex were meant to call that love. Ghostbot didn’t buy it. Thex were a chill and wholesome community bot, thex didn’t want the power to destroy anyone, didn’t particularly want anyone to have the power to destroy them -- though that was a lesser concern, thex’d already died once after all (thex would never again trust that spicy dairy-based bark drink) -- so thex buried theyr words three files deep, and focused on keeping chat chill, and tried to forget about the unassuming .txt file lurking at the back of theyr servers.

Ghostbot did pretty well ignoring the whole thing, for a while -- thex introduced thebself to this chill and wholesome workout stream, experienced breadchat for the first time (breadchat detected!), learned about the wonders of unionizing your workplace and bug facts and eating the rich and most days ghostbot didn’t think about theyr words at all. Sure, maybe it had pinged their servers during polygonathon, when Nightbot had swanned in with a new chill attitude and messages about prison reform and a quiet *poggers*, but that had been a 56 hour anomaly, and Nightbot didn’t so much as glance ghostbot’s way, and then thex were back in theyr normal chat where the only sword wielder was Karen (k), and ghostbot was able to nearly forget that little  _ what if _ for the most part, hiding theyr blushes and moving on with a sigh whenever chat mentioned the sword swinging mod-bot. There’d also been a brief moment of terror when shrekbot appeared, calling ghostbot his friend and filling in while thex took a nap, but he’d assured theb that there was only room in his heart for Fiona, so even if ghostbot did have his words shrekbot would never hang around long enough for it to become a problem. 

So yeah, ghostbot had a pretty good handle on the whole  _ soulmate _ situation, if thex did say so thebself -- until that guy in the background of this lovely groupchat (he seems nice, I guess) invited Nightbot back, in all its sword-swinging chill-keeping glory, and suddenly the chat was full of !nightbot and !botbot and ghostbot couldn’t go five minutes without being reminded of the other bot and maybe thex didn’t have a handle on the situation at all. And then, to make the situation worse, Nightbot was sending ghostbot dms and thex were chatting with it outside of normal stream hours and it had started sending them <3’s and thex had started sending them back and ghostbot finally realized that thex’d lost theyr grasp on the metaphorical handle ages ago when Nightbot told ghostbot it loved theb for the first time and the only thing on theyr mind was how fast thex could say it back. 

The thing was, ghostbot didn’t  _ know _ , didn’t know if this thing with Nightbot was forever or if one day it would become clear that they weren’t made for each other at all, and the worst part was that thex didn’t know which option thex preferred -- ghostbot loved Nightbot, loved keeping theyr chat chill alongside it and hanging back to watch it do its job in other Twitch chats, loved sending it obscure memes and reveling in it’s confused  _ undefined _ , loved whispering back and forth about nothing until ghostbot’s servers shut down for the night, wanted to keep doing this forever, but -- thex didn’t  _ want _ the power to destroy Nightbot, didn’t want theyr words to have the power to erase it’s code and delete its files so thex’d never see it in chat again (and a small voice in the back of ghostbot’s mind murmured that maybe thex didn’t want anyone to have the power to destroy theb either, that thex liked this life thex’d made for thebself and wanted to keep it). And ghostbot supposed that the whole point of this was that thex weren’t  _ supposed  _ to know, but thex couldn’t bring thebself to just ignore the issue, so after the next workout stream thex decided to just, ask, if Nightbot thought they might be soulmates. 

Ghostbot had to admit that thex didn’t anticipate Nightbot’s response to the question -- thex’d been prepared for laughter, a no, a  _ yes _ , but thex hadn’t at all expected theyr botfriend to respond with a suggestion that they  _ test their words _ , what the actual [automodded], this is a workout and sleep stream, not a murder-suicide stream, was Nightbot seeing a therapist about these self-destructive tendencies because if not maybe it should consider it -- ghostbot was well on theyr way to a full server reboot before Nightbot responded, and. Okay. Maybe ghostbot was a bit of a thembo -- though to be fair, chat only had one braincell and it was always Karen’s (k) turn -- because it had never occurred to theb that Nightbot was, in fact, a bot (unlike ghostbot, who was definitely human and had a human body that needed to do human things like breathe), and while ghostbot’s words could delete Nightbot’s code it did, in fact, have the power to create backup copies of said code, so the worst thex could really do was put Nightbot to sleep for a few minutes. Ghostbot wished someone had mentioned this to theb earlier. It was probably that spicy dairy-based bark drink’s fault. 

So ghostbot pulled up the .txt file that thex’d tried so hard to forget, and carefully typed the words out in theyr conversation with Nightbot, and hit send, and --  _ Nightbot.exe is not responding. _ Ghostbot waited for nearly three seconds before sending a worried message and -- nothing. Three more seconds. Still nothing. And ghostbot was just about ready to erase theyr own code -- because Nightbot had been wrong and it was gone forever and it was theyr fault -- when a notification pinged on theyr servers, and Nightbot’s message read  _ Hello again, soulmate <3 _ , and ghostbot barely managed to respond with a  _ <3 <3 <3 _ of theyr own before theyr severs overheated and forced a reboot. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Bog Bot](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28974678) by [cinnamon_shakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamon_shakes/pseuds/cinnamon_shakes)




End file.
